There is no possible way we could put that money to better use for U.S. interests by spending it at home. None. At least this way we're building some new palaces for people to allow us to spend many more billions to look the other way as we station air force bases there in the future.

SquiggsIN:Yes. Buying friends has worked out so well for us, historically.

Why is it that our government thinks it's okay to give billions away to other countries when we have plenty at home that we can't pay for?

NO FOREIGN AID from tax dollars. NONE. I'm not anti-humanitarian, I just think that if American citizens want to donate to people elsewhere that it should be done privately. I'm pretty sure there are some domestic investments our taxes could be funding instead. (perhaps getting all the bridges and dams up to code?)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, who is in Washington for a visit this week, invoked the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay to counter U.S. criticism of Egypt's crackdown on Brotherhood members and opposition activists.

I have to say, it is much easier to achieve convictions when you try a group of individuals collectively and you don't allow them to present evidence or offer a meaningful defense. The justice system operates so much more efficiently than in the US and we should consider some reforms.

Why is it that our government thinks it's okay to give billions away to other countries when we have plenty at home that we can't pay for?

NO FOREIGN AID from tax dollars. NONE. I'm not anti-humanitarian, I just think that if American citizens want to donate to people elsewhere that it should be done privately. I'm pretty sure there are some domestic investments our taxes could be funding instead. (perhaps getting all the bridges and dams up to code?)

THIS

foreign aid - a tiny part of our spending - isn't what's keeping us from spending on infrastructure

"Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, who is in Washington for a visit this week, invoked the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay to counter U.S. criticism of Egypt's crackdown on Brotherhood members and opposition activists.

What process? 683 defendants, 9 minute trial. Hell they couldn't read out all the names of the defendants in 9 minutes. There was no process, just a decision by the military controlling Egypt to round up and kill the usual suspects.

The Muslim Brotherhood certainly was consolidating power and planning on imposing control on Egypt before they were overthrown. I don't know that it undermined democracy by removing a budding dictatorship. The Egyptian military certainly isn't much better and it is unlikely that the election supervised and controlled by the military will be anything but a rubber stamp. Is a semi-secular dictatorship better than an Islamic dictatorship? I guess it depends on your values. The Coptic minority is probably a little more pleased but the military hasn't exactly been protecting the minority in the face of violence by the more extremist Islamic elements.

The current head of al Qaeda used to be a Muslim Brotherhood (40+ years ago or so), got thrown in prison, and went off to join bin Laden and friends. The Brotherhood itself supposedly denounces violence and has specifically denounced al Qaeda, although I don't know if that's changed now that the government is seriously cracking down again. The Brotherhood and its sympathizers have been held responsible for some mob violence within Egypt, don't know if that's escalated into terrorist attacks.

MichiganFTL:There is no possible way we could put that money to better use for U.S. interests by spending it at home. None. At least this way we're building some new palaces for people to allow us to spend many more billions to look the other way as we station air force bases there in the future.

"You have reached the blind alley of the treason you committed when you agreed that you had no right to exist. Once, you believed it was "only a compromise": you conceded it was evil to live for yourself, but moral to live for the sake of your children. Then you conceded that it was selfish to live for your children, but moral to live for your community. Then you conceded that it was selfish to live for your community, but moral to live for your country. Now, you are letting this greatest of countries be devoured by any scum from any corner of the earth, while you concede that it is selfish to live for your country and that your moral duty is to live for the globe."

DigitalCoffee:Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, who is in Washington for a visit this week, invoked the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay to counter U.S. criticism of Egypt's crackdown on Brotherhood members and opposition activists.

[3.bp.blogspot.com image 450x450]

[www.justjen.com image 500x400]

Yep. Dubya's Debacle, and Obama's continuing support of it, virtually guaranteed that it will be years, if not decades, before we can claim the moral or ethical high ground again when it comes to international law, human rights, or political manipulation. Until we demonstrate that we can once again be trusted, we will be unable to seriously effect real sociopolitical change on a global scale - unless, of course, we do it through war, because that's apparently the only thing at which we're good.

SithLord:Good job Egypt. Eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood and restore peace and order to your realm. Naturally, Obama has a problem with that.

Yeah. The OP got it wrong--these aren't simply political opponents, they're killers. Even if they didn't all individually kill they took part in killings.

And of course Obama has trouble with that--he suffers from a usual problem of the left, an inflated sense of what diplomacy can do. The Islamist position is inherently unable to recognize peace with non-Islamists, diplomacy will not work.

Arkanaut:The current head of al Qaeda used to be a Muslim Brotherhood (40+ years ago or so), got thrown in prison, and went off to join bin Laden and friends. The Brotherhood itself supposedly denounces violence and has specifically denounced al Qaeda, although I don't know if that's changed now that the government is seriously cracking down again. The Brotherhood and its sympathizers have been held responsible for some mob violence within Egypt, don't know if that's escalated into terrorist attacks.

The Muslim Brotherhood pretends to be moderates. We saw what they were really after in Egypt--and it wasn't moderate. The military had finally had enough and threw them out--at which point they went into armed rebellion. The rebellion was put down, these are the combatants and their leaders.

Eps05:Gyrfalcon: SithLord: Good job Egypt. Eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood and restore peace and order to your realm. Naturally, Obama has a problem with that.

Yeah, wholesale executions of one's political opponents (and even genuine terrorists) has historically restored peace and order to realms.

Not sure if sarcastic....

Because.. It kinda has. It's immoral but it has prolonged the reign of many autocracies.

No, it kind of has not. It may have prolonged the reign as you say...but it has never restored "peace and order" to those autocracies, nor has it ensured the stability of those reigns, except by use of more force and oppression. The only thing wholesale executions and massacres has ever done is eventually lead to the overthrow of the regime that ordered them.

Loren:The Muslim Brotherhood pretends to be moderates. We saw what they were really after in Egypt--and it wasn't moderate. The military had finally had enough and threw them out--at which point they went into armed rebellion. The rebellion was put down, these are the combatants and their leaders.

Well, the Brotherhood wasn't moderate or fair to the other parties in the government, but they weren't militants either. That's not saying much, but I don't think it's worth executing them by the hundreds either.

SquiggsIN:I'm pretty sure there are some domestic investments our taxes could be funding instead. (perhaps getting all the bridges and dams up to code?)

Yep, drove over the Tappen Zee Bridge going to NJ this weekend. My boyfriend was laughing at me for being terrified until I noted they were building a new bridge because that one is literally falling apart and HUGE.